Gill hooked bass

[Pond]

I caught a real nice bass but it was hooked in the gills it bled a lot but I got it back into the water and it swam off slowly. Do they survive after being hooked in the gills? It's definitely not something I enjoy about fishing I catch and release all bass it bothered me to see it bleeding hopefully it survived.

[Steveo-1969]

Bass can definitely survive being hooked in the gills.  I've even caught some fish that had a gill completely ripped and hanging out of the gill opening (previous injury not my doing) and they were fine.  I've read some people pour Sprite or Mountain Dew on bleeding gills to stop the bleeding.  I've also read that you shouldn't do this.  So who knows?  Me personally, if I have a fish bleeding from the gills I return it to the water ASAP and hope for the best when she swims off.

[Turtle135]

I believe Steveo-1969 is correct. Once you get them back in the water the bleeding will slow and coagulate so the sooner you can get them back in the water the less blood they will lose.

[riverbasser]

most any carbonated drink will somehow (coagulate?) or clot the blood. I pour it on gill dunk fish in water and repeat. normally takes about 2 times and it stops the bleeding. bass gills are tougher than you think tho

[scaleface]

Most of the time I release a fish bleeding from the gills , it struggles and dies . 

[papajoe222]

I gill hooked a female full of eggs yesterday and had a heck of a time attempting to gently remove the hooks. I ended up cutting the split ring and removing the hooks from outside the gill cover.  Every 30-40 seconds I would dip her in the water for a while. She stopped bleeding and took off quickly after I released her.  

I don't believe it is necessary to do more (pouring soda over the gills) as their blood immediately starts clotting once it hits the water. 

[avidone1]

Mountain dew is pretty toxic to people, I can only imagine what it does to a bass.

I don't like the odds of survival for a badly gill hooked bass.  Kinda like you or me surviving with a bleeding hole in a lung.   but I do agree that they should be returned to the water ASAP.  If they are going to survive that is their best chance, if they aren't they belong back in the food chain.

[WRB]

How much blood do you think bass have? If they loose 10 to 15% of thier blood supply they may not survive. Soda does nothing good for bleed fish, it's a myth.

Keep mortally wounded bass and eat them.

Tom

[Jar11591]

The mortality rate of a gill hooked bass is probably higher than bass that aren't gill hooked, but I don't think its an automatic death sentence. I caught this 4lb bass a couple years ago, and as you can see, a piece of gill was hanging down. Seemed perfectly healthy otherwise as she munched on a 6" senko.

[MassYak85]

My personal best (well, my first time PB, I've caught two of the exact same weight) was caught on a wacky worm. Unfortunately the hook got it right where the gills start and it was bleeding badly when I got it in the boat. I quickly weighed and unhooked it and got it back in the water in about 30 seconds (I opted not to take a picture to give it the best chance). It swam off fine and I hope it survived, there was not real damage to the gills, just bad bleeding. 

[Evan Lip Ripper]

I gill hooked a bass last July and was dripping blood on the rocks and it quickly swam off and hoped it survived which I dought happened.